The Way It Should Have Been
by agesold
Summary: Dumbledore appears on the steps and leaves an orphaned child alone. Mcgonagall helps the child, and Petunia wants to keep it. Fem-Harry. No planned pairings as of yet, that may change as Harry gets older. Characters may seem odd, but that's because this story is based on a dream I had.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own any Potter characters, if I did, I wouldn't be writing this, I'd be lounging in a lawn chair on a beach in Hawaii.**

**A/N: This is fem-Harry, and I realize that this may not be realistic, but ever since I dreamed it a couple nights ago, I've wanted to write this down. The story may not make sense, but neither does life so here you are, story time. *Scoots closer to the computer* Wait, I'm writing the story, sorry writing now.**

On a silent street in a silent town in a silent city in a silent county in a silent country on a silent night, A tall, bearded man appeared on the end of the street. His half moon glasses glinted in the street lamps. The man dug into his vibrantly colored robes, obviously looking for something. He found what he was looking for after searching for about thirty seconds. He held up the strange object and clicked it. One by one, the street lights went out, cloaking the street in an immovable blackness.

Pleased that the only light came from the pale, low-hanging moon, he walked toward a seemingly normal house. His hands appeared empty, but if you looked closely enough, you could see a tiny bundle tucked under his arm. As he walked toward the house, a tabby cat started following him. The tabby cat leaped onto a fence post close to the house. The cat was sporting a very feline scowl, a low growl rumbling through her.

"Are you sure you want to leave a baby here with _them_?" The cat, now an elderly woman, whispered angrily. "I've been watching these people all day, and they are the worst sort of muggles anyone has ever seen!" The man did not appear phased by her transformation, or her use of the word muggles, and kept walking quietly toward the door.

"These are its relatives, it'll be safe here, Minerva" The man said, continuing his solemn walk.

"They won't keep the baby, and you know it, Albus," Minerva responded, quietly seething with anger at what her colleague and friend was about to do.

"It will be fine, everything will be fine, they'll keep the baby, I've contained all the information in this letter," Albus held up a wrinkled envelope, and handed it to Minerva.

"A letter!?" Minerva asked, forgetting to whisper in her shock. "You think that they're even going to read it? You're smart, Albus, you know how Lily talked about her sister and her husband. We can't leave the child here, I'll care for the child, as if it were my own!" Minerva grinned slightly at her own ingenuity, but the grin faded when she realized Albus was no longer listening.

Albus continued on, placing the baby on the house's doorsteps. He tucked the letter into a fold in the blanket, cast a light warming charm on the baby, as it was nearing winter, and left. Minerva remained at the house, internally debating with herself. She finally decided that she couldn't take the baby, as Albus would surely find out, and she couldn't leave the baby outside. Knowing what she had to do, she cast a stronger warming charm on the chilly child, knocked on the door, and apparated out.

Seconds after the silent apparition, a thin woman came to the door, grumbling about the time of night and uncaring visitors. She stopped talking when she saw the small bundle, sleeping on the steps. She looked around, leaned down, and scooped the child up. She opened the top of the bundle, and recognized her sister's husbands messy black hair. The baby, woken up by the shifting of the blanket, opened its eyes. The woman gasped when she saw the eyes. The baby's eyes were a startling green color, and had a small line of hazel just around the pupil. The baby yawned, and smiled up at the stranger, recognizing her from photos that the baby had seen in an old box. The woman, despite herself, smiled back at the small baby.

"Petunia! Why is the door open, it's making my feet cold!" Petunia's husband shouted down the stairs.

"Sorry, honey-face, some careless visitor wanted to call on us but left before I got to the door. I was just looking to see if I could find them to give them a piece of my mind when you called," Petunia responded, quickly hiding the small bundle in the under the stairs cupboard. She would show her husband the child tomorrow, when he was in a better mood. Perhaps she would even soften the blow with some homemade cherry and almond tarts, her husband's favorite snack.

**A/N: Okay, I know that I should be working on my other story, but as my profile says, it's on hiatus due to circumstances beyond my control. I figured you guys would be somewhat happy if I posted a different chapter for a different book while we're waiting. Hope you enjoyed it. If you did, or didn't, or you found some humongous, tremendous, outrageous errors, feel free to leave a review. If you liked it, go ahead and favorite, it makes it easier to find books you want to read again if they're in your favorites. Virtual cookies to everyone, and yes, I bought some more. Here you go everyone! *Chucks cookies at readers* Enjoy! :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Still don't own Harry, or his friends. If I did, I wouldn't need to talk to myself to pretend I have friends.**

_10 years after the baby was found on the doorstep, a strange letter arrives._

They heard the click of the mail slot and flop of letters on the doormat.

"Get the mail, Dudley," said Uncle Vernon from behind his paper.

"Make Harry get it."

"Get the mail, Harry."

"Make Dudley get it."

"Poke her with your Smelting stick, Dudley."1

Harry sighed as she walked over to the door to get the mail. Dudley always got what he wanted, while Harry was just left with, well, whatever was left. Harry, her full name was Angharad2, but her aunt and uncle couldn't pronounce the name, picked up the few envelopes lying on the floor.

She flipped through them nonchalantly, until she reached an envelope made of heavier paper than the others. She turned the envelope over, and saw her name written on the front. Well, not her name specifically, Mr. H. Potter was what was written.

'Mr. H. Potter, The Cupboard under the Stairs, 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging Surrey.'3 was what the envelope said exactly. Harry knew that not very many people knew that she was a girl, in fact she didn't even think anyone outside of the Dursleys knew she was a girl.

"Hurry up with the mail!" Uncle Vernon hollered, trying to eat his toast and read his paper at the same time. Harry jumped at her uncle's voice and just about dropped the letters.

"J-just a moment Uncle Vernon!" she hollered back, shoving her letter through the small vents into her cupboard. She walked as calmly as she could back out to the table and handed Uncle Vernon the rest of the mail. Vernon read the mail without incident, and other than Uncle Vernon's sister being sick, the day passed without incident.

That evening, after Harry had cleaned up after dinner, she went into her cupboard, which was near the front door. She closed her door behind her, knowing that it wouldn't grant as much privacy as it would if it were a real bedroom door, and dove for her letter. She brushed the small spiders that had gathered on it during the day, and reread the envelope.

She turned the envelope over and slowly undid the flap. Inside was some more pieces of heavy discolored paper with very fancy penmanship. She read through the first paper twice just to make sure she read it right. 'What is Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and how can you 'owl' someone?' Harry thought to herself. She looked at the other pages, and they were even more confusing than the first.

How on earth was she going to pay for this school, and how on earth was she going to find what she needed, and how on earth was she going to tell her aunt and uncle that she isn't going to Stonewall High? These are the questions that were in Harry's mind as she fell asleep.

**A/N: Hey, it's me again! Your ever late author! Yeah, sorry about that, I have just been really busy with life. So, for everyone's patience, I give you all a fudge-covered pretzel! Or you know, whatever other kind of snack you want, cause I think I ate the last of the pretzels. Oh wait! There's one more! -nomnomnom- Okay, never-mind, they're all gone now.**

**1 ****I got this from the actual book, except for the her when Vernon tells Dudley to poke Harry. I do not own the rights to the books, or the books themselves. My sister owns the books, and my hero owns the rights, so go you awesome people!**

**2**** I found this while doing a name search, and it's pronounced exactly how it looks. I believe it's Dutch, but I'm not completely sure. If you want to find out you can copy and paste the name into Google search (which I also don't own).**

**3 ****This is the actual writing on the front of Harry's letter, and I also took this from the real book, which I still don't own.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: IDNOTHPWR... that's text for I Do Not Own The Harry Potter World Rights. If I did happen to own the rights to Harry Potter, Sirius would not be dead, Draco would not be evil, and Harry and Ginny would ****_NOT _****end up with each other.**** Since that is obviously not what happened in the real books, I must satisfy my wishes with Fan-fiction.**

Harry woke up at midnight, something she had done for as long as she could remember. She awoke because this was their thing. Her aunt would come in with a plate full of left-overs and an armful of extra bedding. They would talk about their day with each other and bond. Both Harry and Petunia kept this a secret from Vernon, knowing what he would do if he found out.

~knock knock~

Petunia opened the door and slipped in. "Here you go honey," she said kindly, the plate she held heaped with left-overs from that nights fried chicken.

"Hmm, yum!" Harry whispered and reached for the plate. Petunia sat on Harry's bed and watched her eat the delicious food.

"So what made you take so long getting the mail, Harry?" Petunia asked after Harry had eaten about half of the chicken on the plate.

"Um, are you sure you want to know Aunt Petunia? It could possibly mean that I don't go to Stonewall High," Harry said, reaching for her letter.

Petunia nodded, hoping it was what she thought it was. Harry pulled out the whole envelope and silently handed it to her aunt. She stared down at the plate, suddenly not very hungry, especially since her aunt was probably not going to let her go to this school.

Petunia slowly read through the whole letter, and then the list of items required. "Well, Harry, I think it's time I told you about your mother,"

"She grew up with me and our parents, always the braver one, adventuring into the woods near our house. I think that is where she met her friend. I never cared to learn his name, because he seemed I bit odd. The truth is they both were odd. They both were something called a wizard, and apparently had magical powers. Since I had never shown any sign of these powers, I obviously was, and still am, not a wizard.

"This difference, along with all the other minor differences my sister and I had in the past, drew us even farther apart. I was so jealous that she had a friend who shared so many qualities as that young man did, that I told my sister I hated her. I think she'd always looked up to me until that day. Even after that day she tried as hard as she could to get me to love her, but my heart was too hardened, and I was too bitter to admit that I was wrong.

"I think that even up till the day she died she had some hope that I would get a hold of her and tell her I was sorry and that I wanted to be her sister again. I now regret that I never had the chance to say I'm sorry, or I love you, or even goodbye. All those things were taken from me by her murderer."

Harry had already heard the story of her parent's murder, just not the reasons behind it, and certainly not this story of wizardry.

Petunia continued unaware of Harry's thoughts. "I didn't even know of your parent's death until the day I found you on the doorstep. Once I read the letter that was placed in your blanket, I knew for a fact that my sister, your mother, was dead. That was the only reason I took you in, and the only way I managed to convince Vernon to let me keep you.

"Over time I grew to love you and your personality. You were, and still are, more like Lily than you know. You may look like your father, but you act more like Lily every day." Petunia finished with a watery smile.

Harry hugged her aunt, hoping that this meant she would be going to Hogwarts. Harry voiced her concerns, and Petunia nodded, unable to answer due to her crying.

"How will you convince Uncle Vernon?" Harry asked concernedly.

Petunia shrugged. "I'll think of something,"

Harry smiled and went back to the previously forgotten plate of chicken. She finished off the rest of the food and handed Petunia the plate. "Thanks, Auntie," she said as she curled under the blankets her aunt had brought.

"No problem, Harry," Petunia responded. She stayed in the cupboard until Harry had fallen asleep, and closing the door with a small click, left as quietly as possible. She didn't know how she was going to convince Vernon to accept this change of plans, but change them she would. She wanted her niece to have the childhood that she could never experience because of her jealousy and wrath towards Lily.

**A/N: Hello my ever faithful readers, I give you the latest installment of my story. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and my random A/Ns. If you didn't enjoy either one, tell me why and how to fix it. If it's something detrimental to the actual story though, I will not be changing it. Now enjoy your virtual fried chicken. YUM!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry or his friends, or their world, J. K. Rowling does. My work is a mere shadow of her amazing triumph.**

Early the next morning, Petunia woke her husband with a large plate full of cherry and almond tarts. "Now this is the way to wake up. You should do this all the time, Petunia," Vernon said, sitting up and taking the plate from his wife.

"Honey, we need to talk... About Harry," Petunia said, glancing at her husband. Vernon almost choked on his tart at the mention of Harry.

"What about her?" Vernon asked after he got his breathing back under control.

"AboutHarrygoingtoaboardingschoolfarawaythat'salreadybeenpaidforbyherparentsandshe'lllearnhowtoprotectusbetterthanthewardsthatareinplacenow!" Petunia said in a rush, hoping that if she did, Vernon would be more likely to agree.

"Um... What?" Vernon asked, confused by the onslaught of words.

"Harry wants to go to a boarding school," Petunia stopped, and then continued when she saw the glare starting to form on Vernon's face. "It's already been paid for out of her own pocket and she'll be away for most of the year and she'll learn magic," Petunia said the last word so quietly that Vernon had to ask what she had said. "She'll learn magic," She said again, a little louder.

"MAGIC!" Vernon shouted, rattling the windows, before he remembered that the neighbors are very close. "Magic!" He shouted again, though quieter than before.

"Yes, darling, magic, the best part is that by learning this magic, we'll be even more protected from the bad wizards," Petunia explained to her husband, hoping he'd let Harry go to the boarding school.

"How long did you say she'd be gone again?" Vernon asked with a sigh.

"About ten months," Petunia answered, having already done the math when Lily had gone to school.

"Ten months? That leaves two months with her here, and two months in which she could cast her spells on our little Dudders," Vernon thought it over, trying to weigh the pros and cons.

"I promise you, Harry will not cast any spells while she's here," Petunia guaranteed.

"Are you certain that we don't have to pay a dime?" Vernon asked, not wanting to pay for anything Harry wanted.

"Positive, she's already been accepted, she just has to reply to their letter and she'll be off," Petunia answered, happy that Vernon seemed to be more accepting now that he didn't have to pay anything and that Harry would be gone ten months out of the year.

"Alright, she can go, but make sure she understands that she is not to cast spells while she's here," Vernon said, tucking back into the tarts. Petunia nodded and left, a grin quickly forming on her face. She walked down the stairs to where Harry was sitting, and told her the news.

If the neighbors hadn't already called the police because of Vernon's shout, they certainly would've for the high pitched squealing they heard afterwords.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you, thankyouthankyouthankyou!" Harry shouted, jumping up and down and waving her letter back and forth.

"Alright, alright, calm down," Petunia said, trying to hold in her giggles. "We still have to buy your school supplies."

"When are we going?" Harry asked as she tried to calm down.

"Diagon Alley is the closest place I can think of, so we'll go there," Petunia reasoned. "We'll go tomorrow, early, so we'll have enough time to get everything before the crowds gather,"

Harry agreed, knowing that the sooner they went, the better, but Harry still wanted to know how the magic world worked. Petunia could see the confusion on the young girls face, and decided to tell her everything that she could remember about Lily's time at school.

"I am probably not the best person to ask for information about the wizarding world, but I do know some things about it," Petunia started, hoping she'd be able to give enough information to sate Harry's curiosity.

"Firstly, I know that, depending on your ancestry, some wizards and witches can cast magic without a wand. I also know that while some can cast magic wandlessly, most cannot. Your mother could, and I'm not sure about your father, because I only met him once. Also, while some can cast magic wandlessly, spells are easier to cast with a wand, because it focuses your magical core or something. I also know that there are four houses or groups of wizards and witches at Hogwarts, and their names are Slytherin, Gryffindor, um, Ravenclaw, and I think the last one is Hufflepuff, but I'm not sure.

"My sister once said that the houses were like a second family, and that every house has different requirements in the students that they will accept. She never did tell anyone what those requirements are, but she got into Gryffindor, so I think that house has something to do with bravery. I do know how to get into Diagon Alley, and where all the important shops are, because I went with Lily to get her school things." Petunia finished with a smile, knowing that Harry's curiosity would only quiet down until they went to Diagon Alley, and then she would want to go into every store and look at everything that magical place had to offer.

**A/N: Hey peeps, sorry for the lateness, I am very bad with deadlines, even ones I give myself. Hope you enjoyed this chappie, cause I hated it. It's one of those chapters that, no matter how much I edit and reedit, I'll never like it. Tell me what you liked, or didn't like, and how to fix it, because I, like all authors out there, survive on reviews.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: Hey, look guys, if you need physical evidence that I am not J. K. Rowling, I'll give some to you. I am in my teens, wearing Christmas themed sparkly pajamas, at midnight Christmas day. If you need any more, take my word for it: I am not, nor ever will be, J. K. Rowling.**

_The next day._

Harry woke with a start at the sound of an engine revving somewhere down the street. For some reason she kept waking up at the best part of her dream. She would getting picked up by a redheaded woman, and carefully tucked into a side car of a motorcycle. Muscled arms would wrap around her and she'd be flying through the air, squealing with delight, loving the feeling of flying, when she woke up.

Since Harry didn't see any point in trying to go back to sleep, as it was already morning, and went to start Uncle Vernon's bacon. She hated the smell of bacon, but as long as she didn't have to eat it, she could tolerate the vile odor.

Carefully closing her cupboard door, she slipped into the kitchen and got the bacon cooking. She had previously tried covering the bacon with a lid, so that she couldn't smell the bacon as much, but Uncle Vernon quickly put a stop to that saying, 'The smell of bacon makes life worth living', or something like that.

The bacon had crisped quickly, and the smell had brought Uncle Vernon out of his and Petunia's room. "Hurry up with the bacon," Vernon growled, apparently too tired to utter his usual lame insult. Harry quickly brought a plate full of bacon over to Vernon's spot at the table, and left to get the newspaper from the front step.

When she returned with the paper in hand, Petunia and Dudley had come down from their rooms. Both sat at the table, Dudley waiting for breakfast, and Petunia waiting for the toast to pop up. Harry handed Vernon the paper, sitting down at the table as well, though not waiting for anything food related, she was still waiting. She had hoped that as soon as Petunia came down, they would go, but she knew that that was unrealistic and unreasonable, because Petunia had to eat too.

After breakfast had finally finished, taking way too long in Harry's opinion, Petunia headed upstairs to get ready to leave for Diagon Alley. Harry took this time to walk to the door and read her letter for at least the hundredth time. No matter how many times she read and reread her letter, she still couldn't quite wrap her mind around the fact that she, Angharad Lily Elizabeth Potter, was a wizard.

Soon after Harry finished rereading her letter, Petunia came down the stairs in an outfit that looked like a forest full of animals had thrown up on it, and then given it to a whale, who then used it as a hanky, before it landed in Petunia's closet. "How do I look?" Petunia asked, twirling so that Harry could the full affect of the clothing.

"Um... you're not really planning on wearing _that_ are you?" Harry responded with a question.

Expertly hiding her growing giggles, Petunia nodded at Harry and ruffled the tie-died ankle-length skirt that she wore over her clunky brown boots that had a Dudley-tantrum stain on them. "Well, it's, um, certainly a statement," Harry said nervously. Surely her aunt was not going to embarrass her today, of all days. She couldn't, could she?

The answer is no, no she could not. Petunia could no longer reign in her ever increasing laughter. "No, I'm not really going to wear this outfit, like this anyway," Petunia added the last bit with a gleam in her eye. 'Lily, please have cast the right spell on this outfit.' Petunia hoped to herself.

"Alter!" Petunia said, hoping the word her sister had given her worked. Both people in the entryway gasped as the outrageously colored clothes swiftly changed into ordinary clothes that anyone would wear. "Yes! It worked!" Petunia said mostly to herself, and then realized Harry was going to want an explanation. "I'll tell you all about it once we've finished our shopping, but I am going to have to change the outfit again once we get there."

Harry nodded, accepting the agreement and heading out the door to the car. "By the way, since you're going to need more space for your studying, Vernon and I decided to let you have Dudley's second bedroom." Petunia said nonchalantly, knowing that this was what Harry had been working towards since her last birthday.

"Really? You finally convinced Uncle Vernon to let me have Dudley's second bedroom?" At Petunia's nod of confirmation, Harry did a little victory dance that included some very sporadic arm flings, one of which happened to hit the fence post as she walked by. The following dance move, if named, would probably be named the yeah!youch!, a combination of pain and joy.

The car that left the driveway contained an ecstatic girl and a very happy aunt.

**A/N: Sorry for the cliffhanger, I know you all probably expected the shopping trip to be in this chapter, but sometimes life doesn't work the way it's supposed to. The shopping trip, and the explanation for the totally awesome changing clothes ****_should_**** be in the next chapter, though I cannot make any promises. I also have decided to answer some of the reviews for this story. Mostly because I didn't have an answer when they were asked, so I had to think of one.**

**Ptl4ever419: The reason everyone thinks that Harry is a boy instead of a girl is one; because she likes her hair to be short, for a girls hair, and two; because after Harry was born the only people who knew Harry was a girl was James, Lily, Sirius, Remus, and Peter. Two of them are dead, one is in Azkaban, and the other two are in hiding, and three; no one else ever bothered to check. Obviously the Dursleys know because Petunia had to change her diapers when she was a baby, Petunia talks to Vernon, and I am positive, absolutely positive that Dudley has walked into the bathroom while Harry was in there at least once, come on, it happens in every family, no matter how dysfunctional it is.**

**Raz: refer to above answer.**

**I also would like to take this opportunity to thank all the people who reviewed, favorited, followed, and read this story, you guys rock!**


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